The Barclays: Matt Kuchar in front after second round as Hurricane Irene shortens tournament

At precisely 12:33 this afternoon, the edict on the future of The Barclays came down inside the interview tent on the other end of the Plainfield Country Club property. Shortened event, only 54 holes, the PGA Tour honchos declared. Too many obstacles thrown at the place by Mother Nature to risk it. So Saturday’s round would be it — declare a winner and pack up shop quick.

Minutes later — on three separate parts of the golf course — the positioning began.

Dustin Johnson made his eighth birdie of the day to get tie Matt Kuchar for the lead at 13-under par. Almost instantaneously, Kuchar drained a six-footer on the seventh hole to get to 14-under. And across the street at the practice range, Vijay Singh began plotting his way to join them in the afternoon.

This morning, the three of them will tee off in the last group, hoping they can try to do more Saturday, did enough today and keep their gloved fingers crossed that Plainfield stays just dry enough to finish. If the round isn’t completed, it will revert to a 36-hole tournament.

“It’s going to be a long day, probably one that’s going to start and stop,” Johnson said. “So we are just going to have to make as many birdies as you can while you can. You know, hopefully we’ll get them all in.”

You want a free-for-all? You’re going to get it at The Barclays in a the rain-shortened final round Saturday. Today’s second round saw players blister the softened course, making it look like a weekend shotgun down the street at Ash Brook. On more than one occasion, Plainfield was abuzz as players repeatedly engineered a shot at the magic PGA Tour scoring mark of 59.

Barely 30 minutes after finishing the last two holes of his first round, Kuchar was back on the course beginning the trend of making the Donald Ross “Green Monster” turn red in the face. He attempted an early run at 59, but finished with a 65, giving him the overnight lead at 14-under par.

Justin Rose had it going too, but hit a pot hole with a bogey on the fifth hole (his 14th of the day), before finishing at 10-under par for the tournament. But the real fun began when Johnson began torching the front nine, en route to an 8-under round of 63, putting him one shot back at 13-under. Then Singh kept the ball rolling in the afternoon, lighting Plainfield up for a 7-under 64 to tie Johnson. Jonathan Byrd finished strong late in the day and sits at 11-under.

“You know there are a lot of birdie holes out there,” Singh said after his round. “And you really can attack the pin from anywhere on the golf course. It doesn’t matter what club. So that’s all you try to do. Is go at the flags and see if you can rack up as much birdies as you can.”

Forecasts last night called for periods of rain this morning when play begins earlier than originally scheduled, at 7 a.m. With the PGA Tour hoping to squeeze in the sped-up final round before heavy storms — moving in separate of Hurricane Irene — arrive in the mid-afternoon, the course’s conditions are up in the air. Thursdays storms made play today scoring-friendly, but if there is wind or rains Saturday, it could put a lid on more seriously low numbers.

“Some guys are going to figure out a way to make a bunch of birdies,” the defending champ Kuchar said. “I think the biggest determining factor in how hard a course plays and how difficult it is to make birdies is how firm greens are. ... I think the score are just a lot less under par with firm conditions.”

That’s why even though he’s made 16 birdies in two days, Singh is approaching Saturday’s bunched-together, duke-it-out final round with caution. He wants to toe that line between playing it safe and wait for others to falter and hitting the gas.

“You’ve got to be careful because it’s yielding a lot of birdies and if somebody gets a good round going, you can shoot very low,” he said. “So you just have to go out there, play each hole and play hard. There’s leaderboards all around the golf course, so we’ll be aware of what’s going on.”

They will tell the story of how Saturday’s shortened final round will play out.

Who will be at the top of them? How low will they shoot? That’s anybody’s guess. But now that the field — and those at the top of it — know what the new format is, the gameplans have been set. Is there a 59 left out there? Maybe.

And why not? We’ve seen everything else this week.

“I’m surprised nobody (has done it),” Singh said. “A 59 is out there. If you look at it, how easy it’s playing. But you’ve got to be careful. There’s a lot of trouble out there, too.”